Fish Experts Study Rare Deep-Sea Oarfish in the Lab

Fish Experts Study Rare Deep-Sea Oarfish in the Lab

Source: ucsd

8/27/2024

Fish Experts Study Rare Deep-Sea Oarfish in the Lab

Credit: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego

A team of science-minded kayakers and snorkelers in La Jolla Cove had the encounter of a lifetime when a dead oarfish washed to the ocean surface on Aug.10, 2024. This deep-sea fish is incredibly rare, and marks only the 20th oarfish documented to have washed up in California since 1901.

Thanks to the work from these locals, the fish was transported to the NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla. On Aug. 16, a team of scientists from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California State University Fullerton, and NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center were able to examine the rare short-crested oarfish (Regalecus russellii), performing a necropsy, or animal autopsy, to learn more about this unique organism.